Blog

Month: May

If there is one thing I’ve learned after 25 years in the risk business, it’s that you’ve got to keep on top of your game and walk the talk. Risk management in any space has been a burning issue — especially since the Global Financial Crisis — and organisations are always on the lookout for qualified risk managers, particularly those with ‘stand-out’ qualifications like Governance Institute’s Risk and Governance Professional designation which is — without doubt — one of the best on offer.

Governance professionals take note! Institutional shareholders are becoming very active when it comes to governance concerns presenting themselves at shareholder meetings, be it at the annual general meeting or a requisitioned extraordinary meeting, so ignore them at your peril.

While regulators worldwide have extracted nearly A$400 billion in fines from banks and investment banks for various scandals since the global financial crisis, unethical conduct is not just the province of the financial sector. Last year, Volkswagen agreed to a US$14.7 billion settlement in the US, admitting it had installed software in diesel cars to cheat exhaust emission tests.

The takeout from corporate scandals tracing back to the early 2000s make it very clear that without an ethical and compliant culture, organisations are at risk. The good thing now of course is that the concept of culture is moving from a lofty, soft concept to something that should be defined, measured and improved.